1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to conveyers, and more specifically, to an automated material unloader positionable horizontally underneath a bed of a dump truck for transporting material within the bed to a dump site using a chain driven conveyor assembly powered by a hydraulic fluid system.
Truck transportation holds an important place in commerce. Private businesses and individuals contract with trucking and warehousing companies to pick up, transport, store, and deliver a variety of goods. Public works trucks undertake the tasks of loading and unloading various types of materials like snow from plowed roads, asphalt for repairing and paving roads, soil for city gardening, and garbage for transport to dumpsters. As a result, cities and towns rely heavily on the efficient unloading of materials from trucks because most projects are taxpayer funded, and therefore bottom line costs are in the public eye.
Specifically, unloading a dump truck is no easy task. A dump truck unloads its contents, usually loose material, by tilting its bed backward. The gate at the rear of the truck's bed must be manually opened and allow gravity to pull the material downward onto the ground directly behind the truck. However, often times a large portion of material gets stuck in the bed of the truck, requiring a person to jump into the bed and physically shovel-out the remaining material. The exhausting task of unloading large quantities of material is not something workers are fond of, especially when the material is heavy or when temperatures reach extreme highs and lows. More importantly, shoveling material from a truck's bed puts physical strain on workers' bodies, placing them at risk of serious physical injuries such as lower back sprains and broken bones. Furthermore, the exhaustion caused by unloading trucks leads to reduced production by workers who cannot work as efficiently when fatigued.
Currently, when material is unloaded from a dump truck, the placement of the load is limited to directly behind the bed of the truck where it must be shoveled or moved to the desired location. This area is hard for a truck driver to see even with the assistance of rearview mirrors. The present invention feeds material directly to the desired locations, thereby solving this problem.
Therefore, there is a need for an unloading mechanism which facilitates the unloading of loose material from trucks, which does not require a worker to shovel loose material from the truck's bed, which eliminates injuries associated with shoveling, which increases time efficiency of unloading material from a truck, which reduces the manpower needed to unload material from a truck, which may be used over and over yet requires no maintenance, and can dump material from the side of a truck.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,645 to Murray et. al, discloses a material spreader for a dump truck is pivotally attached to the rear of the truck body in a normally fixed position and has a transverse bar flight conveyor and a spinner assembly which is self-leveling. The truck tailgate forms an end wall when truck is used for spreading material and has side shields to contain such material. A cover for the conveyor in the closed position provides a smooth surface to permit the truck to be used for conventional hauling, dumping, etc. and in an open position is attachable to the end gate to uncover the conveyor. A pressure plate on the cover operates an indicator in the cab to signal when the spreader needs more material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,950 to McCloskey discloses a portable trammel has a chassis, including support wheels at one end thereof for movement of the trammel. A trammel is rotatably mounted on the chassis and has, an input and an output end. A hopper and an input conveyor, for supplying material to be screened to the input end of the trammel, are mounted on the chassis adjacent the input end of the trammel. An output or fines conveyor, for collecting material passing through the trammel screen is mounted on the chassis, below the trammel. A stockpiling conveyor is mounted on the chassis and has a lower end adapted receive screened material from the fines conveyor and an upper end for discharging screened material to form a stockpile. The stockpiling conveyor can be in two parts, which can be folded into a retracted position for storage and transportation, and further can be mounted for rotation about a vertical axis to enable an arcuate storage pile to be formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,897 to Doyle discloses a conveyor for transferring loose bulk material, such as fertilizer and the like, in a manner which minimizes the creation of airborne dust includes structure for movably supporting the material to be transferred, structure for automatically cleaning the movable support during movement of material thereon and for causing the structure for movably supporting the material to be transferred to move.
U.S. Patent App. No 20010001637 to Zanzig, discloses a refuse collection vehicle including a collection towing vehicle having a refuse loading mechanism for loading a semi-trailer coupled to a fifth wheel, the semi-trailer having a refuse collection body for receiving refuse from the refuse loading mechanism and a hoist mechanism for tilting the refuse collection body. The refuse collection system also includes a refuse transport vehicle which includes a transport towing vehicle having a fifth wheel for receiving a semi-trailer, and a dolly which may be coupled to the semi-trailer for towing additional semi-trailers. A control assembly is coupled to the refuse collection vehicle and the transport towing vehicle including the dolly, having control couplings for interconnection of control assemblies and control umbilicals for providing control to the various devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,579 to Naruns, discloses a bulk material unloader in which a clamshell bucket is suspended from a boom which is luffed from a position over the material to be unloaded through the vertical to a position over a bulk material receiving hopper. The hoists and/or the anchors for the bucket hold and close ropes are mounted on the unloader base on the opposite side of the hopper from the boom pivot such that the suspended length of the hold and close ropes is increased as the boom is luffed through the vertical and the bucket is thereby lowered into the hopper with the hoists remaining inactive until the bucket is in position to be opened and discharged with minimum dusting effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,563 to Esh, et al. discloses an unloader for an unmodified dump truck which uses a temporarily installed conveyor along the flat bottom to dispense materials. Two struts of angle iron extend out from the conveyor to the bin sides and are pressed against the sides by threaded fittings. The struts hold the end of the conveyor in place, but permit simple and quick installation and removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,769 to Morey, et al. discloses a system for handling wood chips wherein an unloader vehicle unloads the chips from a truck trailer or the like to a transfer vehicle, adapted to be positioned, adjacent the trailer, and having a roadway on which the unloader vehicle travels as it moves in a to-and-fro path of travel to and from the trailer. The roadway is provided with a grid which supports the unloader vehicle and includes openings therein of such size as to pass free-falling chips deposited by the unloader vehicle. A chip receiving conveyor mechanism is disposed below the grid for receiving the chips and conveying them to the opposite end of the vehicle where they are transferred to a blower which provides a high velocity airstream to carry the chips to, and pile them at, a remote location.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,735 to Hollinrake, et al. discloses a vehicle including a combination body for selectively dumping and spreading materials. The vehicle includes, at least, a chassis and a body pivotably secured to the chassis at a hinge. The body is comprised of front and rear ends having upper and lower edges and first and second side walls having lower edges. A hoist is provided which extends between the body and the chassis for pivoting the body about the hinge. A conveyor assembly is also included, the assembly comprising an endless conveyor disposed adjacent to at least a portion of the lower edges of the side walls and extending beyond the rear end of the body; a tailgate pivotably connected to the rear end of the body and having an opening therein to permit material to be transported therethrough by the endless conveyor, the tailgate being selectively pivotable with respect to the body about a lower axis disposed adjacent the lower edge of the tailgate or about an upper axis disposed adjacent the top edge of the tailgate; a cover assembly extending rearwardly from the tailgate which is pivotably attached to the tailgate at a pivot axis, wherein the cover assembly rotates about the pivot axis upon contact with the conveyor assembly when the tailgate pivots about the lower axis; and a spreader cooperating with the conveyor assembly for spreading the material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,179 to Abbott, discloses a clean-out apparatus for use in a trailer of the type having a reciprocating floor conveyor system for conveying and unloading large quantities of granular material. The clean-out apparatus is designed to minimize the residual granular material that remains on the reciprocating floor of the truck after the floor is reciprocated to unload the granular material. The clean-out apparatus comprises a reel adapted for rotatable support from the trailer, adjacent the forward end wall thereof, and a flexible clean-out cover movable from a first retracted, position where it is coiled around the reel to a second uncoiled extended position adjacent the rear door opening. Importantly, when the clean-out cover is in the first retracted position, it is disposed such that a portion thereof extends over the reciprocating floor, under a portion of the granular material adjacent the forward end wall of the trailer. With this arrangement, the clean-out cover moves from the first retracted position to the second extended position responsive to frictional engagement with the reciprocating floor as the same is reciprocated to convey the granular material rearward through the rear door opening. Conversely, the clean-out cover is movable from the second extended position to the first retracted position responsive to rotation of the reel following the unloading of the granular material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,673 to Thene, discloses an aggregate distributor on the rear of a truck dump box including an elongate housing extending transversely across the end of the truck and having a multiplicity of discharge ports through which the aggregate is dropped onto spinners swingably suspended from the distributor housing, a square tubular rotary shaft in the housing carrying conveying, mixing and agitating vanes which are rotationally adjustable on the shaft to cause aggregate to be propelled along the shaft in various directions, in accordance with the discharge ports that are open.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,390 to Burke, discloses a device which unloads materials from a vehicle cargo area such as the bed of a pickup truck. A pair of mounting brackets are bolted to opposite sides of the vehicle bed. Pivoted to the brackets are the front ends of rigid frame arms which carry a rotatable drum between their back ends. A flexible conveyor sheet is wound on the drum and can be unwound onto the vehicle bed to receive materials loaded therein. A motor driven or manually operated drive system rotates the drum to unload the cargo as the conveyor sheet is wound up on the drum. The pivotal mounting of the frame arms permits them to be raised with the tailgate of the vehicle to a storage position during transport of the load.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,893 to Gilmore, et al., discloses an extendable trailer for loading and unloading items from a truck trailer, or other type of transportation unit, includes a user interface section. The user interface section is cantilever supported and both longitudinally and horizontally movable. The user interface section is attached to a mechanically extendable section that includes a conveying surface separate from the conveying surface of the user interface section. The user interface section may be vertically pivotable and may include a locking system which allows longitudinal movement of the user interface section only when the mechanically extendable section is in a fully retracted position. A cable retracting unit is positioned on the mechanically extendable section adjacent the user interface section and takes up slack in the power cable supplying power to the user interface section.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,874 to Dahlin, et al., discloses a conveyor coupled to a skid motor vehicle operates to unload bulk granular material from a railroad hopper car. The conveyor has an obtuse configured frame supporting an endless belt extended about an idler roller and a driven roller. A hydraulic motor mounted on the frame supplied with hydraulic fluid under pressure from the hydraulic system of the motor vehicle rotates the drive roller thereby moving the belt relative to the frame and mount thereon. A pair of transverse tubular box members are secured to the bottom of the frame to accommodate forks attached to the skid motor vehicle whereby the skid motor vehicle can lift the conveyor and transport it to another location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,845 to Henke, discloses a material transport and self-unloading vehicle having an open top hopper for accommodating bulk material, as animal feeds. A first material conveying auger is located along the bottom of the hopper for moving material toward a side discharge opening in the hopper. A second paddle auger is located above the first auger for moving material rearwardly in the hopper. A side unloading conveyor mounted on the side of the hopper adjacent the side discharge opening operates to receive material moved through the discharge opening by the first auger and move the material laterally of the hopper to a discharge or feeding location. A drive assembly drivably connects a power take-off drive shaft to the first and second augers and unloading conveyor for concurrent operation of the augers and unloading conveyor. The bottom wall of the hopper has a curved section extended contiguously around the leading section of the flights of the first auger and a linear bend or break line located adjacent the leading side of the first auger in a horizontal plane that generally intersects the axis of rotation of the first auger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,839 to Compton, discloses a portable self-powered load conveyer is structured on a wheeled frame with a drive-over ramp feature allowing ground level loading of bulk materials. Pivotally attached to the wheeled frame, is an elevator with height adjustment mechanics for depositing the bulk materials as required at a higher level. The wheeled frame is equipped with retractable street wheels and a tow hitch for moving the conveyer from job site to job site by towing. Dual sets of positionable wheels, also on the frame, allows backward, forward, turning, and sideways self-powered movement of the conveyer assemblage around the job site. The self-powering is accomplished by an installed internal combustion engine and controlled hydraulic pressurized mechanics. The control arrangement allows for the entire conveyer assemblage to be managed by a single operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,066 to Kirsch, discloses a new grain unloading system using an integrated ramp, horizontal transfer conveyor and elevating system. The unit is towed, positioned and powered by an agricultural tractor.